The Doc is In: Joe Wilson was Right

By Dr. Jim Ferguson
A liberal friend of mine recently asked me if I’ve gone soft. Perhaps he was surprised by my Travel Trilogy published in September. I don’t go out of my way to pick a fight, but I learned long ago on the school yard that a bully cannot be reasoned with or placated. Actually, I’ve been considering this essay for at least a year. I’ve looked for a way to work around the edges of Obama-care in my medical practice. I’ve looked for a way to tolerate uninformed people and the lies of Obama, the Democrats and the media. I’ve even been asked to compromise my principles. That was the last straw.

I’ve considered my options: stand on principle and speak the truth; modify my principles, make money and be accepted (the modus operandi of the “crony capitalists and the Belt-Way crowd of Washington); or leave the system as Elijah tried to do in 1 Kings 19. A trusted friend recently advised me to compartmentalize, but this seems to be just a variation of the second option. The Apostle Paul said it best when he advised Christians to “speak the truth in love.” And late in his life he would say, “I fought the good fight, I finished the race and kept the faith.”

As I rewrite this piece the government slow-down is over. The media called it a shut-down, but they were lying. Yes, I said it, just as Congressman Joe Wilson said of Obama in 2009. The media, Obama and his operatives are not truthful. They have sold their souls to the Devil and even Daniel Webster cannot save this bunch. Actually, 83% of the government continued to function and only “non-essential” Federal workers were furloughed. And they will be repaid in full for their time off now that the deficit and the budget have again been kicked down the road to our children. The biggest issue of the slow-down occurred when veterans were barred from the very Washington memorials made possible by their sacrifices. Though not widely reported in the media, the Washington Mall was made available for a protest rally of illegal aliens supporting amnesty. These activists were led by Nancy Pelosi who directly thanked Obama for opening the Mall and allowing the protestors to assemble.

We hear much these days about the “far right,” but hear little of the far left by the sympathetic media. It’s hard to call yourself into question. Actually, the terms far right and far left are similar on the political spectrum. The cartoon below helps explain this. At one extreme is total anarchy where everyman does as he chooses without restraint of law or government. The Founders constructed a republican system of government that is founded upon the rule of law. The “representatives” of our republic supposedly exercise the will of their citizen electorate. I no longer believe this. The maligned Tea-Party congressmen were elected to oppose the Democrat’s terrible legislation known as Obama-care, and for their principles were pilloried by the media and progressives.

Continuing further up the slope is democracy. The Founders did not want a democracy because they worried that mob rule of the majority could tyrannize the minority. Toward the apex of the governmental triangle is rule by an ever smaller number of oligarchs or ruling elites. Whether they call themselves Nazi Fascists (ultra-right) or communists (uber-leftists) is irrelevant. Even Kings and Caesars appoint toadies, czars and Star Chambers to administer and enforce their autocratic tyranny.

Words are tools. They are important. In the late 1800s a populist movement arose calling itself “Progressive.” It sought to combat the abuses of the industrial revolution and champion the common man. Teddy Roosevelt was a Progressive, as was Woodrow Wilson. The Progressives brought us the FDA and championed national parks. Progressives also led isolationist America into World War I, brought us Prohibition, and the ever popular Federal Income Tax. By 1924 the moniker Progressive was a big problem and so John Dewey (of Dewey decimal fame) recommended they change their name to “modern liberals” playing off the “classical liberalism” of the Founders. Eighteenth century classical liberalism stood for small government, open markets and personal freedom. Modern liberals do not.

Fast forward to our era, where liberals again shy from their moniker and mask their policy goals with the term “modern progressives,” a term embraced by Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. I believe there are few Republicans left who believe in the founding principles of the GOP. And I believe there are no Democrats like the Dixiecrat, Zell Miller, or even John Kennedy. Democrats are actually modern progressives who believe that big government is the answer to society’s problems. And yet fifty years of the Great Society is an abject failure.

So where do we go from here? I don’t know. Ninety million Americans are out of work on Obama’s watch, and are being supported by those of us who still work. Forty-eight million Americans are on Food Stamps (now called EBT cards) and are fed by the rest of us. The deficit has increased on Obama’s watch by $6 trillion, and yet he continues to campaign against the Washington he has crafted.

Those of you in the media and the uninformed, who never read Obama’s books, should have. You’d understand his transformation of our country, and why a few like me still dare to still speak out in opposition.